The invention relates to a method for separating profiled foils, as well as to a use of the method and to a plant for carrying out the method.
Foils with a zigzag-shaped profiling are used as elementary constructional elements for ordered packings of separation columns, in which these foils are arranged adjacently to one another in vertical layers. Profiled foils of this kind are manufactured for example by means of a pleating method from a planar metal strip, with rectilinear folding edges resulting. The metallic strip is a thin foil with a thickness which amounts for example to 0.1 mm. As a rule this foil already has a fine structuring in the form of a grooving prior to the pleating. The pleated metal strip is separated into pieces, the lengths of which are determined by the installation conditions in the separation column. Since the folding edges are rectilinear a separation edge which has a periodic profile results in the separation. Due to this fact the metal strips can be cut to any desired lengths by means of a forming shear.
Whereas in an ordered packing which is constructed of pleated foils of this kind rectilinear flow channels are presentxe2x80x94as a rule in the form of a cross channel structurexe2x80x94, in a modified form of this packing type the channels are no longer formed rectilinearly. In this the foils of the layers are profiled in such a manner that the channel edges are curved in edge zones. Metal strips which are provided with a profiling of this kind can no longer be cut by means of a forming shear into pieces of arbitrary length. This is a result of the fact that the profile of the separation edge is no longer periodic.
It is an object of the invention to create a means which is an alternative to a forming shear and which enables a separation of profiled metal strips for which the separation edges do not have a periodic profile.
The method for separating a profiled foil is carried out using a rotating separation foil which forms a planar surface with a circular periphery. The separation foil is rotated about the circle center and in the plane, the foil plane, which is spanned by the surface. The periphery is brought into contact with the profiled foil by the execution of a relative movement. In this, through abrasion, material is removed and a separation gap is produced in the profiled foil. Material is largely removed from the profiled foil only.
The separation foil canxe2x80x94in comparison with the metal strips of which the profiled foils are manufacturedxe2x80x94be relatively thick. It can be a thin sheet metal which is several tenths of a millimeter thick. Whereas the profiled foil can be manufactured of a plastic, the material choice in the separation foil is restricted to metals for practical reasons. In pleated plastic foils the separation foil is advantageously thinner than the foil to be separated.
In the following the invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.